Track Frame with 21" front wheel???



tunnelrat81

New Member
Nov 10, 2004
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Hello,

I'm relatively new to cycling, and haven't broken into the track field yet, but I recently came upon an abandoned track frame w/ front wheel that has piqued my interest. The bike is clearly a track frame in that it has no component mounting points....It's outfitted with Aerobars and is apparently titanium as its extremely lightweight. The top tube angle is agressively foward.

The odd part though is that it's front wheel is maybe 21 in. in diameter and it appears to have room for a 650c rear wheel. The bike is free to me for the taking, and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow at work, but I just wanted to hear if any of you had experience with older, less standard geometry track bikes. Also, the front wheel is a sew-up wheel and I don't even know if I can get that size replacement.

The bottom bracket is only missing crank arms, and the bearings seem fine. I think if I am able to buy or build a 650c fixed rear wheel and get some crank arms and a chain it'll basically be ready to go. I'm curious about what 'era' of track racing this came from. Was it likely a standard track frame or perhaps had a more specific use? Its obviously not terribly old, but FAR different than the track bikes that I've seen. Any suggestion/advice is welcome. You guys know more than I do I'm sure. Thanks.

-J
 
A picture of the bike I described above.

The rear tire is a a front off of another bike that I set there simply for perspective.

DSCN2334small.jpg


-J
 
Looks like somebody's experiment for pursuit. Before aero frames and disk wheels, one way builders tried to reduce frontal area and wheel-induced turbulence was by reducing the size of the front wheel.

This bike does not look very stable.
 
The front wheel is a 600c or 24 inch size. It was one of the original low profile designs. I still have mine from 1986 in the shed with wheels/tyres.